Rubin: No Vigil Games bid 'a travesty'

The lack of bids for Darksiders developer Vigil Games is a travesty, THQ president Jason Rubin has said.

Speaking to Game Informer, Rubin said that despite a “herculean effort”, the publisher was unable to gather interest from buyers.

He said that many companies were likely put off by the fact that Vigil was a long way away from releasing a new title.

He also revealed the developer was working on a new “fantastic” and “unique” IP named Crawler, which he claimed was one of the most impressive titles coming out of THQ’s studios.

He noted however that this could have further put off potential suitors not keen to invest in a risky new IP.

“Having just finished a product, Vigil was farthest from release of their next game, and we were not able to garner any interest from buyers, despite a herculean effort,” said Rubin.

“Additionally, they were working on a new IP, which meant even more risk for a buyer."

He added: “The best example of this is Vigil’s title, codenamed Crawler. When the teams got together recently to show each other their titles, Crawler dropped the most jaws. It is a fantastic idea, and truly unique. The fact that nobody bid for the team and title is a travesty. It makes no sense to me.

“If I weren’t barred from bidding as an insider, I would have been there with my chequebook. I’m sure that’s little consolation to the team, but that’s a fact.”

Vigil Games was the only THQ studio not to find a buyer during Wednesday’s auction, with Koch Media acquiring Saints Row developer Volition for $22.3 million, Sega buying Relic Entertainment for $26 million and Ubisoft purchasing THQ Montreal for just $2.5 million.

The future of the studio currently remains unclear, although it still remains up for sale as part of THQ’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Vigil Games lead combat designer Ben Cureton suggested in an open letter that the studio could be broken up after failing to find a buyer, and expressed his sadness that the situation the developer had been put in.

“Maybe you can imagine what it feels like when you read the list of who bought what only to discover your name is not on the list. Why? Did we do something wrong? Were we not good enough? Were we not worth 'anything?' Imagine that,” he said.

“Vigil was filled with people that I would put up against the best in the industry. People that made my work better, people that made me a better designer, and people that made me a better person. And now they are gone. Their seats are empty.”